The Secret to Choosing the Right DXP for your Business
written by Nishtech
|October 2024
Don't bring a hammer and assume every problem is a nail.
Maximizing user engagement requires the right digital strategy. Executing that digital strategy requires the right tool. Choosing the right Digital Experience Platform (DXP) or Content Management System (CMS) means you need to understand all the options. ALL the options? This is where it gets overwhelming.
Who needs a DXP Evaluation?
Any company, organization, business unit or individual with a website. So, simply - Everyone (with a website).
What is a DXP Evaluation?
A DXP evaluation is a full 360-degree view into different platform options to help manage content and run websites, mobile apps, etc. It examines how easily you can push content to your website or apps, manage that content, and track what users view and interact with. The goal is to find the DXP that works for your business and your team. You evaluate how it functions, how it integrates with your current tools, and how it fits your goals. In the end, it’s about picking the right platform to keep your customers engaged and help the business grow.
What worked in the past might not work in the future. Don't be a General of the last war. A General's understanding of strategy and tactics is built on experiences and outcomes from the last war. When faced with a new challenge, don't repeat what was effective last time as it might not be effecting this time. Technology changes and adapts quickly, tech stacks change, platforms come and go. Don't fight the last war otherwise you're starting behind the curve.
“Setting oneself on a predetermined course in unknown waters is the perfect way to sail straight into an iceberg.” - Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams
Sound exhausting? You don't have to worry. At Nishtech we're professionals at it. We've done the homework for you and we're happy to let you have our work.
How does Nishtech Conduct a DXP Evaluation?
A peek into our process:
Understanding Your Needs and Goals: Start by outlining what you aim to achieve with a DXP or CMS. Do you know the difference? What are your biggest problems? Speed to market? Ease of use for authors? Simple way to simply push content to your website, no bells and whistles? Maybe a step farther, you looking to improve customer engagement, increase conversions? Maybe more, you're looking to track content and customer engagement to automate improving conversions?
Identify Platform Core Features: We prioritize the features that are essential to your business, whether it's simple content or content + personalization, AI capabilities, omnichannel content delivery, analytics and insights, integrations, etc. The debate between Monolith vs Composable is significant today. Which features are better for you? What are you looking for? If you're in manufacturing, it's likely global reach, B2B commerce capabilities. If you're in Healthcare, it's completely different, where security, patient privacy, HIPAA and accessibility outweigh the need for Global CDNs.
Market Research: We comb through extensive research from Gartner and Forrester. Their industry-leading insights help us understand current market trends, vendor capabilities, and emerging technologies. This ensures our DXP assessments are thorough and aligned with the latest expert analysis. It also ensures we don't have a bias, that many agencies have towards their preferred platform, not yours. So who do we look at? The top platforms to consider in a wider list, in alphabetically order to prove we don't play favorites: Acquia (Drupal), Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), Bloomreach, Contentful, Kentico, Liferay, Magnolia, Optimizely (formerly Episerver), Salesforce Experience Cloud, Sitecore, Squiz and Storyblok and WordPress.
Plan for Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Finally, consider all costs, including licensing fees, implementation, training, and ongoing support, to make a cost-effective decision. You may have started with this when you defined your goals. If you didn't, you certainly will want to know before you make a final decision. We remind our clients you must consider 3 main areas for costs, and it isn't always writing 1 check for everything.
License Costs - The cost of the platform. Often considered yearly costs
Hosting - Often yearly costs to host your site and platform
Implementation - One time build cost from your Implementation Partner, with ongoing support contracts. Nishtech can provide expert services for implementation.
There's other costs to consider as well, ongoing support and maintenance, critical support, monitoring, enhancements. All platforms and options could expose different options and needs.
Don't go it alone
Navigating the world of DXPs can feel overwhelming, but you don't have to go it alone. Whether you're just beginning to explore your options or ready to dive deep into a full evaluation, we're here to guide you every step of the way. At Nishtech, we're passionate about helping businesses like yours find the perfect platform to meet your unique needs and goals. Let us help you turn the complexities of DXP evaluation into a clear and manageable process. Get in touch, and we'll navigate the complexities together, guiding you every step of the way.
Nishtech makes the complex, simple.
